Retail is rapidly evolving to construct virtual environments for consumers. Online product images, videos, and virtual reality (VR) interfaces enliven consumer experiences and are a source of product ...information. Because consumers are unable to physically touch products in these digital environments, this research examines vicarious touch, or the observation of a hand in physical contact with a product in a digital environment. Across eight studies, the authors use images, GIFs, and VR to show that vicarious touch affects consumers’ psychological ownership and product valuation due to the active nature of product touch, which results in a felt sense of body ownership of the virtual hand. This is termed the “vicarious haptic effect.” Results demonstrate that it is not enough to show a hand in an advertisement; the hand must be touching a product. The vicarious haptic effect is strongest for people who become highly stimulated by an immersive VR experience (i.e., measured via the elevation in heart rate). The vicarious haptic effect is attenuated if the viewed interaction does not represent a diagnostic hand movement. The authors discuss theoretical and managerial implications for digital product presentation to encourage feelings of product ownership and valuation.
The seismic or static undrained slip line field theory and Cauchy, Riemann, mixed boundary value problems for undrained soil slopes are derived. A new failure mechanism is proposed to determine the ...undrained bearing capacity adjacent to slopes. The effects of geometric or strength parameters and seismic forces on static and seismic undrained bearing capacity are investigated. The convergence of the proposed method is proved. The static and seismic undrained bearing capacities predicted by the proposed method are close to those of the currently existing methods. The proposed method does not need to assume or search the failure modes, and a new limit state evaluation index is given.
Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors reduce cardiovascular mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus but the protective mechanism remains elusive. Here we demonstrated that the SGLT2 ...inhibitor, Empagliflozin (EMPA), suppresses cardiomyocytes autosis (autophagic cell death) to confer cardioprotective effects. Using myocardial infarction (MI) mouse models with and without diabetes mellitus, EMPA treatment significantly reduced infarct size, and myocardial fibrosis, thereby leading to improved cardiac function and survival. In the context of ischemia and nutritional glucose deprivation where autosis is already highly stimulated, EMPA directly inhibits the activity of the Na +/H + exchanger 1 (NHE1) in the cardiomyocytes to regulate excessive autophagy. Knockdown of NHE1 significantly rescued glucose deprivation-induced autosis. In contrast, overexpression of NHE1 aggravated the cardiomyocytes death in response to starvation, which was effectively rescued by EMPA treatment. Furthermore, in vitro and in vivo analysis of NHE1 and Beclin 1 knockout mice validated that EMPA's cardioprotective effects are at least in part through downregulation of autophagic flux. These findings provide new insights for drug development, specifically targeting NHE1 and autosis for ventricular remodeling and heart failure after MI in both diabetic and non-diabetic patients.
An effective non‐linear optical limiting technology is proposed here based on backward stimulated Brillouin scattering in grade‐index optical fibres. The excellent non‐linear optical limiting ...performance is experimentally verified by using 0.5 and 1 m grade‐index quartz fibres at the wavelength of 1064 nm. The linear transmittance for 0.5 and 1 m fibres are both beyond 96% and the lowest non‐linear transmittance are 6.1% and 1.5%, respectively. This is the best non‐linear optical limiting performance that can be achieved at present.
Grape pomace is a potential source of natural antioxidant and antimicrobial agents. Phenolic compounds, antioxidant, and antibacterial properties of pomace extracts from four Virginia‐grown grape ...varieties were investigated. White grape pomaces had higher (P < 0.05) solvent extraction yield than red varieties. Concentrations of total phenolic (TPC), total flavonoid (TFC), total anthocyanin (TAC), tannins, condensed tannins (CT), as well as antioxidant capacities (DPPH• and ABTS•+free radical scavenging) differed (P < 0.05) among four pomace extracts. ABTS•+ scavenging capacity was positively correlated with TPC, TFC, tannins, and CT (P < 0.05), whereas DPPH• capacity was positively correlated with TAC (P < 0.05). Nine flavonoid compounds were identified, of which catechin and epicatechin were the two most abundant. Antibacterial activity was observed against Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 7644 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213, but not against Escherichia coli O157:H7 ATCC 3510 and Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 14028. L. monocytogenes was more susceptible than S. aureus.
Significant differences were found among the pomaces from four Virginia‐grown grape varieties in relation to the concentrations of total phenolics, total flavonoids, total anthocyanins, tannins, and condensed tannins and to DPPH• and ABTS•+ free radical scavenging assays. All pomace extracts exhibited antibacterial activity against L. monocytogenes ATCC 7644 and S. aureus ATCC 29213, but not against E. coli O157:H7 ATCC 3510 or S. typhimurium ATCC 14028.
In recent years, with the development of the space structures, thin film reflector structures have the feature of lightweight, high compact ratio, easy to fold and unfold and so on. Its form has ...received wide attention from researchers and a broad application prospect. In this paper, the nonlinear finite element software ABAQUS was used to carry out the numerical simulation of the deployment of membrane structures based on Miura-ori, by taking advantage of the variable Poisson's ratio model to revise the stress distribution of membrane elements. Then the uniaxial tension tests were carried out to study the material properties of the polyimide film. The effective elastic modulus was used to simulate the crease of the membrane. The deployment of a membrane structure based on Miura origami pattern was studied. Moreover, effects of some parameters, such as the number of loading nodes and the loading rate on the numerical results were discussed.
The seismic slip line field theory (SLFT) is derived based on the method of characteristic, and the critical slope contour calculated by the SLFT is a convex shape when a high surcharge is imposed on ...the slope top surface. A simple and robustness failure mechanism is proposed to calculate the static and seismic ultimate bearing capacity of strip footing adjacent to the cohesion-frictional slopes where the critical slope contour shifts from the inside of the slope to the outside of the slope with the increase of the boundary load, and the slope is at the limit state when the critical slope contour is tangent to the slope surface. The influence of slope and footing geometric features, soil parameters, and the seismic load on the bearing capacity is analyzed. The ultimate bearing capacity decreases as the strength parameters decreases, and the slope angle and the seismic coefficient increases. The static and seismic bearing capacity calculated by the proposed method does not require the failure models to be initially assumed, and the results are consistent with those of the other methods.
► Acetylated cellulose nanocrystals resulted in the simultaneous enhancement of strength, modulus and elongation. ► Acetylation of cellulose nanocrystals improved the dispersion stability in blending ...medium and the miscibility with matrix. ► Castor oil together with acetylated cellulose nanocrystals as reinforcing filler contributed high biomass content.
New nanocomposites consisting of a castor oil-based polyurethane matrix filled with acetylated cellulose nanocrystals (ACNs) were developed. The ACN exhibited improved dispersion in tetrahydrofuran as a blending medium, and reduced polarity as compared with unmodified cellulose nanocrystals, resulting in a high loading level of 25wt% in the nanocomposite. As the ACN loading-level increased from 0% to 25%, the tensile strength and Young's modulus of the nanocomposites increased from 2.79MPa to 10.41MPa and from 0.98MPa to 42.61MPa, respectively. When the ACN loading-level was 10wt%, the breaking elongation of the nanocomposites reached the maximum value of more than twice that of the polyurethane. The enhanced mechanical performance was primarily attributed to the formation of a three-dimensional ACN network and strong interfacial interactions between filler and matrix. This work produced new polyurethane-based nanocomposites containing modified cellulose nanocrystal with a high biomass content. Its high performance could contribute to potential applications.
Carbon dioxide (CO
2) from ethanol production facilities is increasing as more ethanol is produced for alternative transportation fuels. CO
2 produced from ethanol fermentation processes is of high ...purity and is nearly a saturated gas. Such highly-concentrated source of CO
2 is a potential candidate for capture and utilization by the CO
2 industry. Quantity, quality and capture of CO
2 from ethanol fermentations are discussed in this review. The established and emerging value-added opportunities and markets for CO
2 from ethanol plants also are reviewed. The majority of CO
2 applications are dedicated to serving carbonated beverage and food processing and preservation markets. Beyond traditional merchant markets, the potential for exploring some fresh and profitable markets are discussed including carbon sources in chemical industries for the following: enhanced oil recovery; production of chemicals, fuels, and polymers; and production of algae-based biofuels through CO
2 fixation by microalgae.
Fish products are consumed by human beings as a high-quality protein source. However, overfishing, and pollution puts out an urgent call to seek a new strategy to substitute fish protein for secure ...eco-sustainability. Plant-based fish analogs, which mimic the structure, texture, and flavor of fish meat products, are a rapid-growing segment of the food products. The purpose of this review is to discuss the feasibility and potential strategies for developing plant-based fish analog. The nutritional properties, especially the protein quality of plant-based fish analogs, were discussed. Furthermore, a thorough comparison was made between fish and terrestrial animal muscle structures, including both macroscopical and microscopical structures. Potential processing technologies for producing plant-based fish analogs from plant proteins and approaches for the characterization of the fish analog structures were elaborated. Comparing all the current processing techniques, extrusion is the predominately used technique in the current industry. At the same time, 3D-printing and electrospinning have shown the prominent potential of mimicking fish muscle structure as bottom-up approaches. Finally, key challenges and future research were discussed for the potential commercialization of plant-based fish analogues. The primary focus of this review covers the innovative works that were indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection in the past five years.
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